Roddy MacLeod

Background

About Roddy MacLeod

I am a Civil Engineer at Stantec in Edinburgh. in 2022 I completed my studies at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, where I studied for an MEng in Civil Engineering. I have worked in hospitality from 2005 to 2022. In 2010 I began a career as a chef having had a life long passion for cooking. During this time I gathered a vast knowledge of world cuisines, obtaining many sought after skills and techniques. This experience has helped strengthen my ability to work under pressure within a constantly changing evnvionment, requiring resiliants and adaptablity. As a chef I became interested in nature, the growing seasons and the food production system that we rely on for our standard of living. With sustainability in mind, my ambitions began to change which lead me beyond the kitchen to have seek a more challenging and meaningful contribution to society. I found that opportunity within the vast scope of Civil Engineering. In 2016 I joined The Scottish Wider Access Program (SWAP) to study Access To Engineering. From the successful completion of thIS course I gained a place to study at undergraduate level at Heriot Watt University in 2017. Fastforward 4 years, I am now entering my 5th and final year, on route to exceeding my initial expectations by achieving a Master of Civil Engineering Degree. Ouside of university, I have been fotunate to gain engineering experience in between academic terms. In 2020 my planned internship with Mott Macdonald, like for many others was sadly cancelled, however I was fortunate enough to be given a fantastic opportunity working on-site for Econekt, a Glasgow based Passivhaus builder. Over the summer once lockdown restrictions were removed I gained invaluable experience working on sites througout the UK with a range of construction professionals giving me a unique hands-on insight into the construction industry. During the summer of 2021, I was offerd the chance again to work with Mott MacDonald, who were willing to honour the internship offered the previous year. This gave me the oportunity to gain professional engineering experience working within the Glasgow Water Team. Over the 12-week internship I was given the opportunity to solve reallife problems relating mainly to flood prevention schemes across Scotland. This including designing holistic solutions ustilising green-blue engineering to manage surface water. Part of this design involved building professonal relationships with suppliers and providing new innovative products to utilise within our design solution.